Another set of unfortunate news has hit the Mississppi State Football team: their head coach shed tears as four of his star players made the decision to…
After Mike Leach passed away on Monday, Zach Arnett was appointed as Mississippi State University’s new head football coach.
Arnett was hired in 2020 and spent the final three seasons leading the defense. According to the school, he consented to a four-year contract paying $3 million annually including incentives.
Leach, 61, passed away on Tuesday due to complications from a cardiac disease, the institution said.
The sudden death of Coach Mike Leach has delivered a devastating blow to our football program, Mississippi State president Mark E. Keenum stated on Thursday.
As we move past this unfortunate incident, it is crucial that we provide stability and continuity to our coaching staff and team.
“I am really confident in Zach Arnett’s ability to lead and think he is in a unique position to carry on the advancements Coach Leach made to our program.”
After joining the team in 2020, Zach Arnett oversaw defense over the previous three seasons.
After joining the team in 2020, Zach Arnett oversaw defense over the previous three seasons. AP Images via Jonathan Mailhes/Cal Sport Media
In an interview, Arnett stated that he and the Mississippi State football team were “committed to continuing to honor Coach Leach’s legacy and to build on the foundation he laid.”
Prior to this, Mississippi State declared it will play Illinois in its planned bowl game on January 2.
The NFL team Tampa Bay Buccaneers play their home games in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, which is home to the ReliaQuest Bowl. One notable feature of the stadium is the presence of a pirate ship. Leach went by the moniker “The Pirate.”
Arnett worked for nine seasons as a defensive coach at San Diego State University before moving to Starkville, Mississippi.
In the grand sweep of college football, the majority of coaches who stand out as unique individuals did so as a result of their consistent winning performances. In fact, Mike Leach won a lot. But Leach, who passed away on Monday at the age of 61 from a heart ailment, according to his family, made his mark on the annals of the sport by being unique rather than superior to everyone else.
There will always be juggernauts in college football. Just as Saban demonstrated that the game could find another Bear Bryant, it will eventually find another Nick Saban. There won’t be another Mike Leach found.
Right now, hardly much in college football is novel, particularly when it comes to game strategy. Someone has called before for each play that we see on Saturday or Sunday. If not, the coach who really turned it up today at least took a lot of cues from what other coaches did the day before.
Every configuration, personnel package, and tiny imperfection in the pre-snap motion has been used on another field.
Leach, however, did not use the same plans. He had all the coaching of one. Leach changed an entire sport by being relentlessly himself. It would have been easier to count the number of his peers who didn’t offer well wishes to the public than to count those that did, despite the fact that he made innumerable friends while he struggled for his life this week. During his career, Leach faced opponents as well, and occasionally, those opponents had strong arguments that were overshadowed by the cult of personality surrounding him. In a sport full of extremes, the creator of one of the few genuinely original offenses in the league was a man of stark contrasts. His absence will be felt in his game.
